Re “A misstep or a calamity for credibility—an assessment of Trump’s Syria pullback” by Zoe Greenberg (Page A1, Oct. 21): This was no random, impulsive act by an ill-informed president, as some would suggest. The president made the same move in December and was stopped only by the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and public outrage. So he waited, and did it again 10 months later under cover of darkness.
It was calculated and disastrous. Who benefits the most from this betrayal of our country’s pledge to protect our allies and our national security?
As Nancy Pelosi said, “All roads . . . lead to Putin.” Vladimir Putin becomes the power broker as we leave the region with a leadership vacuum and we leave our Kurdish allies to strike a deal wherever they can find one in order to survive.
I hope that someday we identify the smoking gun that links our president to Putin. I’d be looking in his tax returns, since that is his most closely guarded secret.
Susan Shelton
Falmouth
Note from KBJ: Susan Shelton, conspiracy theorist.
